Undergarment construction



Nov. 30, 948

I. coMBs UNDERGARMENT CONSTRUCTION Filed June 8, 1946 Patented Nov. 30, 1948 pairs o STATES- PATENT OFFICE 2. Claims.

My invention relates. to; womens: clothing and particularly to undergarments worn about. the, hips.

I have foundthat women. prefer for several reasons to wear a girdleora parity girdlawhich.

incorporates a crotchmember extending front to back between.- the legs.

Primarily, the crotch piece-is uscdto. prevent the garment from being displaced on the hips.

of the" wearer duringv usage. This. feature. is. especially important when afoundation garmentof the elastic or supporting; typezisused. An.- other reasonforthe desirability of:a-.crotch.piece, is to provide suitable covering; for. the, crotch, thereby avoidingembarrassmentand. the:- necessity for wearing a.separate.--garment.

Heretofore, garments of. this type. have. been, frequently held in placesolely-by meanszof garters which are attached to stockings. However; ithas been foundrthat thispracticeiis unsatisfactory because the garters themselves-frequently become unfastened: or the pull..of. the garters causes the stockings totear thus. becoming com. pletely ruined by runners. In-additionzmany. women prefer to wear: no stockings.at-all particu larly in. warmer climates and. in. the. summer. This means that thegarters must be: removed from the garments to'avoid discomfort. and also the anchorage afforded by: thestockings andgarters is lost.

Irrviewof the above-mentioned reasons for incorporating a crotchon. any such type-of. garment, whether it be-completely elastic,- partially; elastic or fully inelastic, certain requirements for a crotch. piece will: become apparent.

First, the: crotchmember itself must. be -of. a. shape causing no discomfort tothewearer; Sec-- ond, the entire; garment. or: at. least the crotch: piece mustbe: able; to withstand: frequent andprobably daily laundering. Third where: the; crotch member-is applied-to garments other-than the, fully elastic typ.e;, which are: not readily slipped up or down oventhe'thighs the crotch piece should be capable of: quick. and". convenient detachment to-enable the.-wearer-. tocperformthe necessary funct-ions of elimination. Fourth; thefastening devices; for the: crotch must-provide. ab-

solute security against; accidental detachment:

and: at the; sameft-imenot, cause discomfortwto the wearer. Fifth; thecrotch member-itself, as.- well as the; fastening; devices mustnot benoticeable under a; tight fitting dress. Therefore- I have. provided a crotchmember. for 1186:0111. any; type of garment whichfulfillsithe above;. requirements.

I-ami familiar with. previous attempts to solve this-problem andrI' realize thatsome of the prior art. deviceshave-been helpful in proposing a partial. solution. Examples ofsuch prior art are-the patents towElterich 872,172; Milleret a1;

2,070,515,. Blair 2,246,714; Clark 2,320,408; and

Blair 2,397,641.

The expedient of using a detachable crotchpiece-is clearly disclosed in one or more ofthe foregoing patents; nevertheless,.theobject of my invention is to providea detachable crotch construction which fulfillseachof the aboverequiremerits. Therefore, I'have, constructed a garment withv a. detachable crotch member combined with as detachableinsertwhich can be easily removed for. laundering; Furthermore; an object of my invention. is-to provide fasteners for the crotch piece and. the insert which cannot become accidentally, detached. regardless of. age or amount of. use, of the garment and which. will be comfortable andunnoticeable.

Many garments of. this character cannot be frequently laundered without materially decreasing their. life-and impairing whatever elastic supporting. function. the, garment. may. have. It, therefore, becomes-important that the crotch member. be. capable. ofmuchmore frequent launderingthan the entire-garment andmy constructiontakescare of this. necessity with a minimumof inconvenience.

My construction. contemplates. an inexpensive insert whichmay tie-completely disposable so that new. inserts-may. be added if. it is not desired-to launder the insert separately. Furthermore, I have, provided a detachable fastener for the crotch and'insert' which is inexpensive to manufacture but which will. notbecome accidentally disengagediregardless-ofj the posture or activities offthe wearer. I'r1.addition,,I incorporate a method' ofsecuring the fasteners which prevents-them.

from. chafing, the wearer and which alsov insures that. the. crotch. i's. hel'diinproper position at all times.

Further. objects will.b.e apparent from the specie fioa-tiomandl drawings, in which:

Fig; 1-- is .afr-ontelevation of. my. improved; girdle.

partly cut away. and showing the crotchpiecein openposition;

Fig. 2 is. a-v section: taken. along lines 2--2. of. Fig. 1';

Fig. 3; is a. sectional View showing, the method ofsattaching and protecting the; loops on the crotch. piece and thetrunk of thegarment;

Figul. isan enlargeddetail showing. a prelimirnary step: in fabricating the, loops;

Fig. is an enlarged detail view of the fastener with the fastener loop sewed to the detachable crotch piece; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken along lines 6-5 of Fig 1.

While certain novel features of the invention are disclosed herein with considerable detail with respect to certain particular forms of the invention, it is not desired to be limited to such details since many changes and modifications may well be made without departure from the spirit of invention in its broadest aspect.

Referring now to the drawings, panty girdle H1 illustrates the type of garment to which my invention is particularly adapted because in the true girdle, which is an elastic supporter, there is no crotch member at all and the girdle is held in position on the wearer by means of garters attached to the girdle itself. Such a garment, it will be understood, does not require the frequent laundering that any crotched garment will need. Where, however, the garment requires additional means for preventing its retention of position on the wearer and particularly in'heavier and older people, it is very desirable to have a crotch member attached to the garment which may be used either in place of garters or in addition to them.

Therefore, I have illustrated my improvement in connection with such a garment which is known to the trade as a panty girdle.

The girdle itself, as mentioned above, is comprised of an elastic or semi-elastic material designed to fit the wearer tightly. The crotch member H is, however, made of an inelastic material and ha attached thereto a plurality of fasteners l2 along its front extremity. Fasteners l2 engage in loops 1'3 which are secured in a manner to be described more particularly hereinafter to the front portion of the panty girdle and are completely enclosed by strips of material M and I5 (Fig.3) Crotch piece H, as shown in Fig. l, is permanently attached to the back of girdle H] at I6 by means of stitches H. The seam at it is reinforced by additional tapes 18 (Fig. 6). If desired, however, I contemplate that the crotch may be made completely detachable at the back in the same manner as is shown in Fig. 1 at the front. For most purposes, however, it will be pref erable to insure that the crotch piece is at all times permanently attached to the body of the panty girdle since the detachment at the front of the girdle provides ample means for opening the crotch when necessary.

Attached to the upper side of crotch piece H is a removable insert 19 of a generally square or diamond shape. A fastener I2 is secured to each corner of insert i'9 andthese four fasteners are inserted through and held in place by loops 2!). I have found that a square or diamond shape, as illustrated, is easily fabricated and is less likely to cause uncomfortable wrinkles than any other shape for the insert. For the purpose of clear illustration, I have shown loop 20' as being spaced from inside tape l8 but it may be found desirable to fabricate the garment so that the loop 20' is attached by'means of stitches l1 instead of independently as shown. Also, for the purposes of clarity, I have illustrated fasteners l2 for the insert as extending outwardly from the insert itself. In actual fabrication, however, the fasteners on the insert would be attached underneath the insert in order that the edge of the insert will afford protection between the fastener and the body of the wearer, Where it is desired to have the crotch ll detachable at both ends, loop 20' will, of course, be attached to the crotch as shown in Fig. 1. Inserts I9 may be completely made of a fabric material or it is contemplated that a quantity of extra inserts will be supplied with each garment. In this event, it will be desirable that some of the inserts I9 be of rubberized material or partly rubber and partly fabric.

Crotch piece H has been described as being of an inelastic material but this term is used in comparison to the rubberized elastic material from which girdles are customarily made. Where, for invalids or for specialized applications, daily laundering of the crotch piece I I is not necessary,

it may be desirable to use a relatively more elastic material or elastically woven material for the sake of comfort.

Referring now to Fig. 4, the method which I employ to sew loops I3, 20, 20 and also all the loops 2| attaching fasteners I2 is to place the flat material between the main portion of the girdle, crotch, or insert, then reinforcing strip of material 22 is sewed through the loop memher 2! and the fabric 23. A second seam is made at 24 as close to the edge of material 23 as possible. The tape or loop piece 25 is then inserted through the fastener l2, doubled back upon itself under the edge of piece 22 after which another seam 25 is made through all four thicknesses of material as shown clearly in Fig. 5. The identical method of forming the loops i3 is illustrated in Fig. 3 except that the fastener is not employed. The bight of the loop, however, is stitched securely to the enclosing material at 26. This method facilitates engaging and disengaging the fasteners; also, it prevents relative movement of the material attached by the fasteners, thus increasing the comfort of the entire garment.

The shape and manner of locking the attaching loops 2! to the garment are important from the standpoint of comfort. Crotch'member II should'be wide enough to avoid uncomfortable bunching of the member in the crotch of the wearer. The importance of this feature is appreciated when the purpose of the crotch memher is kept in mind, namely, to prevent the garment from riding up on the hips of the wearer. By arranging loops 20 arcuately around the front of the trunk portion of the garment, undesirable gathering of crotch member H will be avoided.

The fasteners proper designated by the numeral 12 have a slotted opening at 21 through which they are attached permanently by tapes 2!, as described above, and in addition the fasteners have a fiat bar 28 extending beyond and parallel to the slot 21. Bar 28 terminates in a pointed section 29 which extends inwardly, partially covering the opening for slot 30 and aiding in preventing accidental disengagement of loop 13. Prong 3! located about midway of slot 3! also tends to retain the loop in slot 30. Similar fasteners have been used for other purposes but-I have found that although many varieties of fasteners have been used to attach crotch members, 'this the only type which has proved satisfactory. The fasteners are very thin, cheap to manufacture, are easily and securely attached, and should be made of metal or of a'synthetic plastic material for cheapness of fabrication and also to avoid corrosion.

While I have preferred to illustrate and describe my crotch construction as adapted to a foundation garment or girdle because its use on this type of garment will be more wide-spread,

it will be understood that the crotch construction is peculiarly adapted for specialized garments such as surgical corsets used by invalids and maternity cases.

be only necessary to replace either the insert or the crotch piece itself.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In an undergarment of the panty girdle type having an elastic trunk portion, an elastic crotch stitched to the lower rear edge of the trunk portion, a plurality of fabric loops stitched arcuately around the lower front edge of the trunk portion, a plurality of hook fasteners attached to the front edge of the crotch and. adapted to engage the loops, a washable fabric insert adapted to be secured to the elastic crotch, a plurality of fabric loops on said crotch, a plurality of hook fasteners on the insert adapted These garments are usually expensive and made-to-order; therefore, it is unlikely that a suflicient number is owned to be secured in said last'mentioned loops to retain the insert in position on the crotch, a length of fabric material stitched on the inside of the trunk portion, and a corresponding length of fabric material stitched to the outside of the front portion, said fabric length adapted to overlie and enclose the fasteners for the crotch and trunk.

2. A panty girdle constructed in'accordance with claim 1, in which the hook fasteners are attached to the crotch by means of fabric loops, one end of each fabric loop being stitched to the crotch between said crotch and an overlying horizontal fabric strip, a second row of stitches for said loop and the crotch in spaced relation to the first row, and a third row of stitches adapted to bind the fabric strip, the other end of the loop, the first length of the loop, and the crotch.

IDA COMES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,580,464 Blumenfeld Apr. 13, 1926 2,099,541 Spain Nov. 16,1937 2,381,232 Stone Aug. 7, 1945 2,386,531 Witkower Oct. 9, 1945 2,396,599 OBrien Mar. 12, 1946 

